Justice News

Mexican Citizen Pleads Guilty to Illegal Reentry

ROANOKE, VIRGINIA – A citizen of Mexico, who has been removed from the United States multiple times in recent years, pled guilty today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Roanoke to Federal immigration charges, United States Attorney John P. Fishwick Jr. announced.

Martin Alvarez-Torres, 38, of Mexico, pled guilty today to one count of illegally reentering the United States after being previously deported without having obtained the express consent of the Attorney General of the United States and the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to apply for admission into the United States.

“The United States is a country that welcomes immigrants from all corners of the world but those who come here must do so within the letter of our immigration laws,” United States Attorney Fishwick said today.

According to evidence presented at previous hearings by Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom III, Alvarez-Torres has been removed from the United States multiple times, most recently on April 17, 2014. The defendant was indicted in 2014 and remained at-large until his arrest in Roanoke, Virginia in June 2016.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom III prosecuted the case for the United States.